


if you asked

by artsyspikedhair



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Child Abuse, Disabled Harry, Gen, Ravenclaw Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-05 01:47:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16358321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyspikedhair/pseuds/artsyspikedhair
Summary: three words: scrawny, sullen, silent. Harry Potter, of #4 Privet Drive, fit those three words.





	if you asked

**Author's Note:**

> this was what that mammoth slytherin harry story was supposed to be: a shameless sorta self-insert fic

If the neighbors on Privet Drive had only three words to describe Harry Potter, they would all begin with s: scrawny, sullen, and silent. Scrawny, because the brat never ate, not after he'd been suspended for stealing one too many classmates' lunches. And perhaps also because the boy was always up to mischief, running around the neighborhood like a hooligan, forcing the Dursley family to make their hormonally-challenged son Dudley chase after him. Sullen, because the boy simply brooded - he neglected his school work - all the primary schoolteacher's chastisements seemed to barely affect him. His cousin, Dudley, on the other hand, was a sweet, sensitive boy. When scolded for mischief, Dudley could be seen crying until the poor teacher comforted him, often forgetting the assigned punishment or claiming the boy's guilt was punishment enough. Harry Potter was always being punished - made to do chores, mostly, and wear his cousin's clothes after the bratty orphan destroyed the clothes his caregivers lovingly bought him. 

Another word that could easily describe Harry Potter was /strange/. Odd events always seemed to occur when he was around, and not all of them could be explained away by his trouble-making. Of course, the boy never even bothered to explain himself. He was silent. The Dursley family claims his birth parents never taught him how to speak, but the boy knew enough to respond during attendance, or when forced to apologize for his misdeeds. Perhaps the silence was merely a cover up for Harry's stupidity, the way Dudley's loud rowdy playing was a cover for his. Whatever the cause, strange silent children are never well liked by adults. Harry was no exception. 

An explanation for his strangeness, however, occurred on his eleventh birthday. After a week of the poor Dursley's being bombarded by trained owls - likely a prank by that Potter boy, neighbors whispered to one another - the family went on vacation, for once bringing Harry with them. At midnight, a giant knocked the door down. 

"yer a wizard, Harry!" were never words Harry expected to hear. 

"I'm a what?" Harry responded, a rare occurrence, and the giant, Rubeus Hagrid, exploded with rage. 

Harry learned many, many truths that day, although he still followed the number one rule from the Dursley's: DON'T ASK QUESTIONS! He nodded and followed and listened as Hagrid led him to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies; as a blonde boy bragged about his --- some wizard sport involving brooms; as robes were fitted and a wand chose him. Harry listened, and waited, and bore the punishments from his relatives stoically, until September 1st arrived. 

Harry Potter was not one for oral conversation, but books, on the other hand? Books involved eyesight, which Harry was blessed to have thanks to the NHS supplying him prescription glasses. Books contained the one prized resource Harry, thanks to his relative's rules, had been denied most of his life: information. Harry read most of his textbooks the weeks of August, while locked in his cupboard with a flashlight he'd nicked from Dudley's second bedroom, but the Defense Against the Dark Arts book he saved for the train ride. 

And then boats floated towards the first years as they exited the train, and Hagrid was back, muttering something involving Harry. Harry nodded, sitting in a boat that already contained a red-headed boy in obviously homemade clothing and a bushy-haired, bucktoothed girl already discussing the book she had finished on the train: "Hogwarts, A History". Harry had decided against buying any books other than the ones he'd need for classes after Hagrid had informed him Hogwarts contained a library. He did, however, buy all seven years worth of the Transfiguration, History of Magic, Herbology, and Charms textbooks. Just in case Harry was somehow prevented from ever entering Diagon Alley again. Listening to the dark-skinned girl talk animatedly about all she'd read, he wondered if he had made the right decision. Harry couldn't keep up with all she was saying, but from a glance at the similarly nodding redhead, neither could he. 

All too soon, Harry was being pushed up towards a stool containing a singing hat. Harry hadn't heard the song or his name being called. He also had never asked Hagrid (or was he Professor Hagrid? Or Rubeus? Names were weird, Harry didn't know) what the houses the blonde robeshop boy mentioned were. 

"Oh. Oh dear, my poor boy. No, you're not going crazy! You couldn't hear my song, and I understand why, only having one working ear makes crowded places horrible for hearing anything, and yes I can see the memories of your aunt swinging frying pans at you, and no I am not a mandated reporter. wixen - plural gender neutral term for witches and wizards - don't have child protection laws. The four houses are Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. The redhead and black girl from the boat are both Gryffindors. Gryffindor represents bravery, which you certainly have a lot of, but they are also a rather rough-housing lot. You do not learn well by doing, so you likely won't fit in there. Slytherin is for the ambitious - yes Harry you are allowed to have ambitions - and cunning - cunning means manipulative, like the characters on your aunt's soap operas. Hufflepuffs are hard workers and loyal - you think you have too many trust issues to be loyal? Okay. Ravenclaws love knowledge, and they will be most able to help you learn about your parents. Better be RAVENCLAW!" 

Severus Snape scowled. Of course, leave it to Potter to be a bloody hatstall. The result of the sorting, however, surprised the immature man. Perhaps Lily's spirit lived on, somehow. 

That thought would soon be dashed by the first Potions class. The boy said nothing, not a word as he was asked a direct question, and then had the audacity to flinch as Severus scolded him, as though the Potions Master had carried on the Snape tradition of beating children? The Ravenclaw was a disgrace, incapable of even taking proper notes or listening as Severus assigned partners. Ravenclaw was soon last in the House Cup. 

Flitwick worried about Harry Potter, and not only due to his colleague's pettiness. Harry had no friends. He was happy to talk one-on-one with Professors, but failed to take notes during lectures or practice the spells. When he did practice, he always pronounced the incantation wrong. Flitwick did offer tutoring, but Harry declined. The child was, however, always eager to hear about his mum's attempted Charms Mastery. 

Harry's difficulties continued in other areas too. History of Magic essays contained amazing scholarly research, but never answered the prompt. Transfiguration had the same issues as Charms. 

Only after the first flying lesson, where Harry, much like Neville Longbottom, took off too early and bruised/dislocated his shoulder was the problem revealed. The Boy Who Lived had unilateral hearing loss and brain damaged caused by repeated tears in the eardrum and multiple head injuries. Harry Potter was silent because asking questions, asking for help, was forbidden, and Harry Potter was not intentionally failing. Harry Potter, the professors learned from the Mediwitch and the Sorting Hat (both of whom Dumbledore dosed with Veritaserum), had been abused by his aunt. His own family. Lily Evans' sister, the little girl who wrote Dumbledore begging to attend Hogwarts, grew into a woman who attacked a child with heavy metal objects to the head.


End file.
